I’ll disagree a bit here.  I never move my ‘bow bumper’.  I’ll put my bow as close to it as I can manage while the boat is still in the water.  As Charles said, when the boat and trailer are pulled out of the water, the space between the ‘bow bumper’ and the boat will increase.  This is inevitable, and not necessarily a problem.  Moving the ‘bow bumper’ closer to the boat at this point just increases the likelihood of damage to the boat in transit.  

Peter Nyberg
Coventry, CT
s/v Silverheels (1988/2016)

> On Apr 28, 2021, at 10:29 PM, Charles Nieman <blue66corvette at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Thomas
> You float the boat, slide the bow bumper as far forward as possible, tighten the boat as far to the front as possible. When you drive out of the water, the boat will shift to the stern, so the key is to keep it as close to the front as possible. After you get it out of the water, then you slide the bow bumper back to the boat to reduce bounce. It’s tricky, and I’ve had to retry a few times but it can be done. 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> Charles 
>